Focal BeamCapitol BasementA daily look at the news from the editors of Capitol Weekly and AroundTheCapitol.comcopyright (c) 2018, Capitol Basementhttp://capitolbasement.com/rss.php2018-02-21T09:15:47ZComments and Tipstips@capitolbasement.comurn:blog:wnzcoopu1y8pw9.15jvumpe4qptlqt2018-02-21T15:15:47Z<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Rep-Adam-Schiff-ready-to-release-Democratic-memo-12629134.php">California Rep. Adam Schiff ready to release Democratic memo on Russia meddling</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI</strong>: "<span>Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that he expects to release a memo this week about surveillance and the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>Schiff, D-Burbank, crafted the document as a response to one written by Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, that alleged that federal agents improperly obtained a warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as part of its Russian investigation. While President Trump ordered the release of the Nunes memo over the objections of some in law enforcement and intelligence, he blocked the release of the Schiff response because he said it contained classified material."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>We are negotiating with the FBI, and I think we are almost done,&rdquo; Schiff said Tuesday night during an onstage interview by former East Bay Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco."</span></span></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article201225519.html">Zinke promises Brown he'll listen to California on offshore oil drilling</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER</strong>: "The Trump administration promised Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday that it will listen to California's objections to its plans to dramatically expand&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article193056924.html" target="_blank">offshore oil and natural gas drilling.</a>"</p>
<p>"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, traveling to Sacramento for a private meeting at the Capitol, "made it clear that California's views will be taken into account," Brown's press secretary Evan Westrup said in an email."</p>
<p>"Westrup said the meeting followed up on a 20-minute phone call the two had in January, during which Brown "asked for the same consideration Florida recently received."</p>
<p><b>READ MORE</b>&nbsp;related to&nbsp;<strong>Energy &amp; Environment</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article201142209.html">Facing specter of drought, California farmers are told to expect little water</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/California-drying-out-again-weighs-permanent-12628497.php">California, drying out again, weighs permanent ban on wasting water</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Earthquake-early-warning-How-the-U-S-trails-12628325.php">Earthquake early warning: How the US trails Mexico in potential life-saver</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-perdue-california-20180221-story.html">Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue gets grounded in California</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>LA Times' GEOFFREY MOHAN</strong>;&nbsp;<strong>OP-ED:&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-water-use-20180221-story.html">Drought? What drought?</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>LA Times EDITORIAL BOARD</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/20/heres-how-food-waste-at-uci-some-supermarkets-is-being-converted-into-electricity/">Here's how food waste at UCI, some supermarkets is being converted into electricity</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>SGV Tribune's STEVE SCAUZILLO</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/community/2018/02/16/ninth-circuit-ruling-on-the-clean-water-act-raises-more-questions">Ninth Circuit ruling on the Clean Water Act raises more questions</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Water Deeply's HOLLY DOREMUS</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2018/02/19/fight-over-household-wells-highlights-rural-growing-pains">Fight over household wells highlights rural growing pains</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Water Deeply's EMILY BENSON</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2018/02/20/as-fire-risk-explodes-across-the-west-an-oregon-city-finds-a-solution">As fire risk explodes across the West, an Oregon city finds a solution</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Water Deeply's MATT WEISER</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/community/2018/02/16/seafood-giant-tests-technology-to-prevent-illegal-fishing-worker-abuse">Seafood giant tests technology to prevent illegal fishing, worker abuse</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<b>Oceans Deeply's IAN EVANS</b>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/articles/2018/02/19/the-long-journey-of-genetically-engineered-salmon-to-your-dinner-plate">The long journey of genetically engineered salmon to your dinner plate</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<b>Oceans Deeply's RICHARD MARTIN</b>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/articles/2018/02/20/study-finds-underreporting-masks-sharp-decline-of-global-fish-catches">Devil in the data: Study uncovers sharp decline in global fish catches</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Oceans Deeply's ALASTAIR BLAND</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/articles/2018/02/21/new-long-term-effort-to-understand-impact-of-rapidly-changing-atlantic">New long-term effort to understand impact of rapidly changing Atlantic</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<b>Oceans Deeply's ERICA CIRINO</b>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20180220/sprinklers-keep-almond-orchard-temperatures-up-as-they-coat-the-trees-with-icicles">Sprinklers keep almond orchard temperatures up as they coat the trees with icicles</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Chico ER's STEVE SCHOONOVER</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Probe-of-state-Sen-Tony-Mendoza-finds-likely-12628767.php">Probe of state Sen. Mendoza finds 'likely' sexually suggestive behavior</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's MELODY GUTIERREZ</strong>: "<span>An outside investigation into sexual harassment allegations against state Sen. Tony Mendoza found he &ldquo;more likely than not&rdquo; engaged in &ldquo;sexually suggestive behavior&rdquo; with six women in the Capitol over more than a decade, including legislative staffers, fellows, an intern and a lobbyist."</span></p>
<p><span>"</span>A three-page summary of the findings was released Tuesday showing that outside investigators interviewed 47 witnesses, many of whom were former and current staffers of the Democrat from Artesia (Los Angeles County). Investigators said Mendoza cooperated with the investigation and that they interviewed him twice."</p>
<p>"The full report was not released publicly. Senators who want to read the entire report before deciding whether to punish Mendoza will have to do so at the offices of the Legislature&rsquo;s lawyers."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Me Too</strong>: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-vatican-pope-abuse-20180221-htmlstory.html">Pope Francis' sexual abuse commission, hit by resignations and criticism, gets a reboot</a> -- <strong>LA Times' TOM KINGTON</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article201224514.html">Six women were likely subject to unwanted behavior by a California senator, investigation finds</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/googles-fired-engineer-sexually-harassed-co-workers-via-memo-u-s-labor-board-lawyer/">Google's fired engineer sexually harassed co-workers via memo, says US labor board lawyer</a> -- <strong>BANG's ETHAN BARON</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-democratic-candidates-for-congress-1519194666-htmlstory.html">Democratic candidates for Congress square off on question of Pelosi as Speaker of the House</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' JAVIER PANZAR</strong>: "<span>Five Democrats looking to replace retiring Republican Rep. Darrell Issa squared off at a debate in San Juan Capistrano on Tuesday night, struggling to differentiate themselves in a crowded and open race."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>At least nine candidates are running in the primary and for most of the evening the five Democrats agreed on the issues, from opposing new toll lanes in the district to embracing the need for more gun control."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>One touchy topic caused a rift: Would the candidates&nbsp;vote for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to become Speaker if Democrats win control of the House?"</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>State Politics</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article201229789.html">California Capitol annex needs a $543M replacement, report urges</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON/ALEXEI KOSEFF</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-court-guns-20180220-story.html">SCOTUS leaves in place California's 10-day wait for gun buyers, rejects 2nd Amendment challenge</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' DAVID G. SAVAGE</strong>: "<span>The Supreme Court made clear again Tuesday that the government has broad power to restrict and regulate firearms, dismissing a 2nd Amendment challenge to California's 10-day waiting period for new gun purchases."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>While the court has ruled that the 2nd Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns, the justices have repeatedly refused to go further by blocking strict gun regulations, including state bans on the sale of semi-automatic weapons or limits on who can carry a weapon in public."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>Dissenting alone, Justice Clarence Thomas said "the 2nd Amendment is a disfavored right in this court."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Gun Violence Pandemic</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article201252924.html">Authorities say California school shooting plot thwarted</a> -- <strong>AP</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/a-florida-lawmakers-aide-called-school-shooting-survivors-actors-within-hours-he-was-fired/">A Florida lawmaker's aide called school-shooting survivors 'actors.' Within hours, he was fired</a> -- <strong>WaPo's MARWA ELTAGOURI</strong>; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-citing-evil-massacre-in-florida-starts-talking-about-gun-control/2018/02/20/8da6dd7e-1683-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html?utm_term=.9a46ff08e503">Trump, citing 'evil massacre' in Florida, starts talking about gun control</a> -- <strong>WaPo's JENNA JOHNSON/MARK BERMAN/JOSH DAWSEY</strong>; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/i-would-rather-not-be-alone-behind-their-anger-florida-students-are-still-teens-struggling-with-trauma/2018/02/20/5e21bb40-1661-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html?utm_term=.2e226f0e6a76">'I would rather not be alone.' Behind their anger, Florida students are still teens struggling with trauma</a> -- <strong>WaPo's JESSICA CONTRERA</strong>; <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/21/guns-nra-parkland-florida-417897">Shooting roils gun politics in NRA-friendly Florida</a> -- <strong>Politico's MARC CAPUTO</strong>; <a href="https://edsource.org/2018/youth-voices-represent-a-wild-card-in-the-gun-regulation-debate/593847">Youth voices represent a wild card in the gun regulation debate</a> -- <strong>EdSource's LOUIS FREEDBERG</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article201169714.html">California's bail system doesn't make us safer, attorney general says</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF</strong>: "California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Tuesday that he will not appeal a recent court decision on excessive bail, adding his voice to the growing statewide push to overhaul a money bail system that criminal justice advocates argue is&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article130682914.html" target="_blank" title="">discriminatory to poor Californians</a>."</p>
<p>"Late last month, the appeals court in San Francisco ordered a new bail hearing for Kenneth Humphrey, a retired shipyard worker who had been held in jail for more than eight months on $350,000 bail. Humphrey was accused of breaking into a neighbor&rsquo;s apartment, threatening to put a pillow over his head and stealing $5 and a bottle of cologne."</p>
<p>"In its ruling, the panel said that setting bail so high a defendant cannot pay it is only justified when the suspect is too dangerous to release before trial, and it instructed the trial judge to reconsider what amount Humphrey could afford and whether he posed a risk to public safety."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Prisons &amp; Public Safety</strong>: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Family-of-man-killed-by-BART-police-releases-body-12628449.php">Family of man killed by BART police releases body cam footage</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fire-department-personnel-incidents-20180220-story.html">LA fire chief raises concerns about 'divisive' workplace incidents involving firefighters</a> -- <strong>LA Times' DAVID ZAHNISER</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://calpensions.com/2018/02/19/small-calpers-rate-hike-continues-debt-reform/">Small CalPERS rate hike continues debt reform</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>CalPensions' ED MENDEL</strong>: "<span>CalPERS is speeding up payment of new pension debt, a step toward reforming a policy that pushes current worker pension costs to future generations and helped delay a recovery from a huge investment loss a decade ago."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>The adoption of a&nbsp;</span><em><a href="https://www.calpers.ca.gov/docs/board-agendas/201802/financeadmin/item-7a-00_a.pdf">new actuarial</a></em><span>&nbsp;policy last week, which shortens the payment of new debt from 30 to 20 years, shows how CalPERS has a built-in conflict between the need to quickly repay debt while keeping an eye on the ability of governments to pay pension costs."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>A large rate increase that suddenly takes a big bite out of government budgets could create a funding crisis, fueling a drive for pension reform. Delaying debt payment allows time for the normalization of high pension costs that once might have been shocking."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Alameda-County-prosecutors-aim-to-dismiss-12627787.php">Alameda County prosecutors aim to dismiss thousands of cannabis convictions</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's KIMBERLY VEKLEROV</strong>: "<span>Alameda County will dismiss, reduce or seal decades of marijuana-related convictions, District Attorney Nancy O&rsquo;Malley said Tuesday, clearing thousands of people of activities that California no longer deems crimes."</span></p>
<p><span>"</span>Barring unusual circumstances or facts, felony cases will be reduced to misdemeanors, and misdemeanors will be dismissed, O&rsquo;Malley said. The move is in line with new state regulations that allow prior convictions to be redesignated or erased."</p>
<p>"O&rsquo;Malley&rsquo;s timeline differs slightly from that of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/SF-will-wipe-thousands-of-marijuana-convictions-12540550.php">San Francisco District Attorney George Gasc&oacute;n</a>, who said last month he would circumvent the petitioning process and automatically expunge or reduce decades of cannabis convictions."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Cannabis</strong>: <a href="http://www.chicoer.com/government-and-politics/20180220/oroville-residents-wont-vote-on-commercial-marijuana-but-council-will">Oroville residents won't vote on commercial cannabis but council will</a> -- <strong>Chico ER's RISA JOHNSON</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/20/answers-to-your-questions-about-immigration-inspections-at-southern-california-workplaces/">Answers to your questions about immigration inspections at SoCal workplaces</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Press-Enterprise's ALEJANDRA MOLINA</strong>: "<span>Immigrant-rights organizers have for months been preparing employers in Southern California for the day that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents enter their workplace to verify employment eligibility."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>Those inspections aren&rsquo;t uncommon &mdash; ICE conducted&nbsp;1,360 in the last fiscal year &mdash; but there has been a spate of them in Southern California since last week."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>Immigration agents have been visiting businesses to make sure&nbsp;employers follow the rules for the Form I-9, a document that confirms a worker&rsquo;s identity and authorization to work in the U.S. These I-9 inspections are not the same as&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2018/02/14/ice-reportedly-arrests-more-than-100-in-uncooperative-la-area-as-part-of-operation-that-began-sunday/">workplace raids</a><span>, which take place without warning."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Immigration</strong>: <a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/20/socal-immigrant-rights-activists-fight-back-against-last-weeks-ices-immigration-actions/">SoCal immigrant rights activists fight back against last week's ICE immigration actions</a> -- <strong>Daily News' ELIZABETH CHOU/ALEJANDRA MOLINA/CHRISTOPHER YEE</strong>; <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/21/daca-dreamers-congress-republicans-trump-417427?lo=ap_a1">Coming soon: Another showdown over Dreamers in Congress</a> -- <strong>Politico's BURGESS EVERETT</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Calif-law-would-impede-Trump-plan-to-loosen-12628912.php">Calif. law would impede Trump plan to loosen rules on sale of health insurance</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO</strong>: "<span>State law would partially block a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/medical/article/Trump-plan-Less-comprehensive-health-plans-at-12626719.php">proposed plan by the Trump administration</a><span>&nbsp;to loosen restrictions on the sale of cheaper, less comprehensive health insurance from taking hold in California, state insurance regulators said."</span></p>
<p><span>"</span>The proposed federal&nbsp;<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2018-03208.pdf">rule</a>, announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, would extend the length of time consumers can be covered by short-term health plans from three months to almost 12 months. However, California law mandates that consumers cannot be on such plans for more than six months. States could continue to apply their own laws regulating these insurance plans, the proposed federal rule says."</p>
<p>"Short-term plans typically cost less but often do not cover essential health benefits or preventive care. They were once meant to help tide people over in between jobs or other changes that would lead to a brief lapse in one&rsquo;s health coverage. Consumer advocates believe the move by HHS would encourage people to buy what they call &ldquo;junk insurance&rdquo; plans that do not cover their health needs and not realize it until it was too late, such as when they need expensive treatment. The Trump administration says the change would lower health insurance premiums and give consumers more choices in deciding which plans to buy."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Health &amp; Health Care</strong>: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-wight-loss-surgery-20180221-story.html">Surgeon offers free weight-loss operation for 500-pound man rejected by insurer</a> -- <strong>LA Times' DAVID LAZARUS</strong>; <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/20/shulkin-veterans-agency-purge-417896">Shulkin says he has White House backing to purge VA</a> -- <strong>Politico's ARTHUR ALLEN</strong>; <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/anthem-calls-on-eye-surgeons-to-monitor-anesthesia-during-cataract-surgery/">Anthem calls on eye surgeons to monitor anesthesia during cataract surgery</a> -- <strong>CHL's MICHELLE ANDREWS</strong>; <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/trump-administration-proposes-rule-to-loosen-curbs-on-short-term-health-plans/">Trump administration proposes rule to loosen curbs on short-term health plans</a> -- <strong>CHL's JULIE APPLEBY</strong>; <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/morning-breakout/how-single-payer-advocates-are-playing-the-long-game-in-california/">How single-payer advocates are playing the long game in California</a> -- <strong>CHL</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/high-or-low-end-bay-area-home-values-continue-to-climb/">High or low end, Bay Area home values continue to climb</a></strong></p>
<p><b>BANG's LOUIS HANSEN</b>: "In most parts of the country, inexpensive starter homes are making the&nbsp;greatest gains in value for buyers."</p>
<p>"But once again, the Bay Area is running counter to national housing trends."</p>
<p>"Owners in the San Jose metro area&nbsp;buying into the lower third of the market saw&nbsp;an 18 percent return last year, while high-end buyers saw a slightly higher 18.9 percent appreciation, according to real estate marketplace Zillow."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Housing &amp; Homelessness</strong>: <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/18/the-california-dream-is-tough-to-afford-if-youre-under-40/">The California Dream is tough to afford if you're under 40</a> -- <b>BANG's KATY MURPHY</b>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article201220879.html">Homeless woman dies at city-sponsored winter shelter</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's ELLEN GARRISON</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-toilets-20180221-story.html">As homeless camps explode in LA suburbs, residents fear they will become permanent</a> -- <strong>LA Times' MELISSA ETEHAD</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-clean-backlog-20180221-story.html">LA wants more money for homeless encampment sweeps</a> -- <strong>LA Times' DAKOTA SMITH</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-hunger-strike-20180221-story.html">After a week without food, skid row activist still hungry to make a statement about housing shortage</a> -- <strong>LA Times' STEVE LOPEZ</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/homeless/article201233224.html">This program helps homeless families get off Elk Grove streets. Can it work elsewhere?</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's ELLEN GARRISON/RENEE C. BYER</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://edsource.org/2018/teacher-shortages-persist-in-california-and-getting-worse-in-many-communities/593853">Teacher shortages persist in California and getting worse in many communities</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>EdSource's LOUIS FREEDBERG</strong>: "D<span>espite an improving economy and new efforts to recruit teachers, California&rsquo;s teacher shortage is showing no signs of easing up."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>In fact, shortages are becoming more severe in many communities."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>That&rsquo;s the conclusion of a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ca-district-teacher-shortage-brief" target="_blank" >new report from the Learning Policy Institute,</a><span>&nbsp;based on a survey of 25 school districts of different sizes and in diverse locations in the state."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Education</strong>: <a href="https://edsource.org/2018/suspension-rates-for-black-male-students-in-california-higher-for-foster-youth-rural-students/593888">Suspension rates for African-American male students in California higher for foster youth, rural students</a> -- <strong>EdSource's LEE ROMNEY</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article201152784.html">China sets goal of rapidly suprassing US as AI race heats up</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>McClatchy DC's TIM JOHNSON</strong>: "When a Google computer program beat the world&rsquo;s best player of an ancient Chinese board game last May, it might have seemed like an incremental milestone."</p>
<p>"<span>But for some, the success of the program known as AlphaGo marked more than a man vs. machine clash. It set up a broader race between China and the United States over artificial intelligence, a competition that could mold the future of humankind just as the widespread arrival of electricity did in the last century."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>The Go tournament took place in Wuzhen, a city of canals that is more than 1,300 years old, a fitting venue for a competition involving the strategy board game Go that has been played for several thousand years. Go is renowned for its complexity, and it is said that there are&nbsp;</span><a href="https://research.googleblog.com/2016/01/alphago-mastering-ancient-game-of-go.html" target="_blank" title="">more variations to the game than there are atoms</a><span>&nbsp;in the universe."</span></span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Economy &amp; Development</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article201253909.html">NZ says Pacific trade deal will boost GDP 1 percent</a> -- <strong>AP's NICK PERRY</strong>; <a href="http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20180220/decision-on-development-impact-fee-postponed">Decision on development impact fee postponed</a> -- <strong>Chico ER's DANI ANGUIANO</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/san-francisco-traffic-malfunction-red-lights-12628041.php">Drivers see red as 200 intersections in SF suffer error</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's JOSH KOEHN</strong>: "Two hundred traffic signals in San Francisco malfunctioned Tuesday afternoon, leaving drivers and pedestrians to navigate roughly a sixth of the city&rsquo;s streets via flashing red lights, officials said."</p>
<p>"The network malfunction occurred shortly before 12:30 p.m. and all lights were back up and running by 1:34 p.m., said Paul Rose, a spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency."</p>
<div >
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>"Traffic signal crews went to each intersection and reset the lights to get intersections from flashing lights to the three-color system."</p>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/article201171864.html">Rand Paul bids to mold the GOP in his image</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>McClatchy DC's LESLEY CLARK</strong>: "Is Sen. Rand Paul the new Steve Bannon, the former Trump aide who promised to wage a &ldquo;season of war&rdquo; on the Republican establishment and champion like-minded conservatives?"</p>
<p>"Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has endorsed two Senate candidates who definitely aren't favorites of GOP standard bearers: Kelli Ward in Arizona and Mike Gibbons in Ohio."</p>
<p>"Ward has suggested Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is battling brain cancer, should quit the Senate as soon as possible and Gibbons is a novice businessman up against a sitting congressman who has President Donald Trump and the Ohio Republican party's stamp of approval."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article201194649.html">With new elections near, US strains to curb Russia meddling</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>AP's MARY CLARE JALONICK</strong>: "The Russians are going to try it again. Even President Donald Trump's intelligence chiefs say so. But with congressional primaries just two weeks away, the U.S. has done little to aggressively combat the kinds of Russian election meddling that was recently unmasked in federal court."</p>
<p>"Special counsel Robert Mueller's surprise indictment last week in his wide-ranging Russia investigation sounded a fresh alarm to the U.S. government, social media companies and state election officials who are readying for the 2018 midterms. Here's what's being done &mdash; or not &mdash; in the wake of Mueller's revelations:"</p>
<p>"<span>Mueller's indictment charged 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies in a plot to interfere in the 2016 presidential election through a social media propaganda effort that included online ad purchases using U.S. aliases and politicking on U.S. soil. Congressional committees held hearings on the social media attacks last fall, but legislation to require technology companies to enhance openness for online political ads has stalled amid GOP concerns of overregulation."</span></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/21/587509178/kentucky-democrat-wins-special-election-to-reclaim-seat-after-lawmakers-suicide">Kentucky Democrat wins special election to reclaim seat after lawmaker's suicide</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>NPR's SCOTT NEUMAN</strong>: "<span>The wife of Kentucky state Rep. Dan Johnson, who killed himself last year amid allegations of sexual assault, has lost a bid to succeed her late husband. The special election returned the seat to Linda Belcher, whom Dan Johnson had unseated."</span></p>
<p><span>"</span>Belcher &mdash; the Democrat who lost to Johnson in a Trump wave that swept Republicans into office statewide in 2016 &mdash; easily won the special election for Kentucky's 49th&nbsp;District. She garnered 68 percent of the vote to Rebecca Johnson's roughly 32 percent,&nbsp;<a href="http://wkyufm.org/post/linda-belcher-reclaims-seat-bullitt-county-special-election#stream/0">member station WFPL reports.</a>"</p>
<p>"Johnson's wife announced a day after his death that she would seek the state House seat."</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-tougher-on-russia-claim-fits-a-pattern-of-striving-to-one-up-obama/2018/02/20/a533fd1c-164e-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html?utm_term=.cb9856f4e4d0">Trump's 'tougher on Russia' claim fits a pattern of striving to one-up Obama</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>WaPo's PHILIP RUCKER/ASHLEY PARKER</strong>: "<span>To hear President Trump tell it, he is tougher than former president Barack Obama. He is smarter than Obama &mdash; more shrewd, more effective, more respected. The 45th president is, by his own accounting, superlative to the 44th in almost every way."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>In private and in public, while devising policies and while crafting messages, Trump frequently draws flattering comparisons with his predecessor &mdash; and he does not let the truth intrude, as was the case Tuesday."</span></span></p>
<p><span>&ldquo;I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts,&rdquo; Trump tweeted."</span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>POTUS45/KremlinGate</strong>: <strong>OP-ED</strong>: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/opinion/trump-russia-putin.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fthomas-l-friedman&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection">Whatever Trump is hiding is hurting all of us now</a> -- <strong>NYT's THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN</strong>; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/politics/robert-mueller-rick-gates/index.html">Dutch lawyer pleads guilty to lying about interaction with Rick Gates</a> -- <strong>CNN's KATELYN POLANTZ/DAVID SHORTELL/MARSHALL COHEN</strong>; <a href="https://www.axios.com/mueller-indictment-kremlin-political-warfare-1518979432-1495d412-9543-4b04-83e5-b42311ae6442.html">Mueller indictment shows the evolution of Kremlin political warfare</a> -- <strong>Axios' ALINA POLYAVOKA</strong>; <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/21/17031774/mueller-indictments-russia-trump">7 legal experts on what Mueller's Russia indictments mean for Trump</a> -- <strong>Vox's SEAN ILLING</strong>; <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/02/20/587305198/what-could-be-coming-next-in-robert-muellers-russia-investigation">What could be coming next in Robert Mueller's Russia investigation</a> -- <strong>NPR's KELLY MCEVERS/CHRIS BENDEREV/CARRIE JOHNSON</strong>; <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/robert-mueller-is-taking-a-closer-look-at-jared-kushner">Mueller is taking a closer look at Jared Kushner</a> -- <strong>Vanity Fair's ABIGAIL TRACY</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/us/article/Evangelist-Billy-Graham-dies-at-age-99-reached-12629754.php">Evangelist Billy Graham dies at age 99; reached millions</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>AP's RACHEL ZOLL</strong>: "The Rev. Billy Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died."</p>
<p>"Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday morning. He was 99."</p>
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<p>"Graham reached more than 200 million through his appearances and millions more through his pioneering use of television and radio. Unlike many traditional evangelists, he abandoned narrow fundamentalism to engage broader society."</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/As-Russian-skaters-set-records-U-S-women-far-12629151.php">As Russian skaters set records, US women far back</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>AP</strong>: "That Russian gold-medal drought at the Pyeongchang Olympics is closer to ending."</p>
<p>"Teen figure skaters Alina Zagitova or Evgenia Medvedeva almost certainly will take gold in one of the Winter Games marquee events after they went 1-2 in the women&rsquo;s short program Wednesday with the highest scores ever."</p>
<p>"<span>Medvedeva had not lost a competition in two years until she was beaten by Zagitova at the European Championships in Moscow. That set the stage for an Olympic matchup, and with the Russian athletes having no gold so far, the spotlight was even more glaring."</span></p>
</div><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>Memo, Part Deux2018-02-21T05:31:00Zurn:blog:wnzcoopu1y8pw9.15jsrt3hlb6to1l2018-02-20T15:18:07Z<p><b><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article200656294.html">Tony Mendoza's day of reckoning may finally be here</a></b></p>
<p><b>Sacramento Bee's CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO</b>: "<span>Accused Sen.&nbsp;</span><span>Tony Mendoza&rsquo;s</span><span>&nbsp;day of reckoning may be drawing closer."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>Mendoza, a Democrat who last week&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article200399274.html" target="_blank" title="">sued the Senate</a><span>&nbsp;amid an&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article185133028.html" target="_blank" title="">investigation into sexual harassment allegations by three former employees</a><span>, is on paid leave pending the outcome of the probe. A panel of lawmakers also temporarily stripped him of his committee posts, including his chairmanship of the Insurance, Banking and Financial Institutions Committee."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>Later today, the Senate Rules Committee will finalize its recommendation to the rest of the Senate on what to do about their colleague. Last week the five-member panel of lawmakers reviewed a report on the now-completed investigation. All senators are to receive the facts on Wednesday."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Me Too</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article200864729.html">Spin the bottle game among newest allegations against female lawmaker</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<b>Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF</b>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/Hero-harasser-or-both-Shaun-White-s-newly-12625647.php">Hero, harasser or both? Shaun White's newly complex legacy</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's ERRIN HAINES WHACK</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sexual-harassment-training-20180220-story.html">More companies invest in training to prevent sexual harassment -- but it might not be doing much good</a> -- <strong>LA Times' ROGER SHOWLEY</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-rhode-island-sex-scandal-20180219-story.html">Republican state senator charged with extorting sex from a page</a> -- <strong>AP</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://www.thecannifornian.com/cannabis-business/californias-cannabis-growers-staying-shadows/">Why California's cannabis growers are staying in the shadows</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Cannifornian's LISA M. KRIEGER</strong>: "More than a month after California&rsquo;s regulation of marijuana, only a small share of the tens of thousands of cannabis growers have joined the system &mdash; threatening the state&rsquo;s shift to a regulated market and the promise of a billion-dollar tax windfall."</p>
<p>"Fewer than one percent of the state&rsquo;s 68,120 cannabis cultivators have been licensed, according to a new report published&nbsp;on Monday&nbsp;by the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.calgrowersassociation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California Growers Association</a>, the state&rsquo;s largest association of cannabis businesses."</p>
<p>"Growers can&rsquo;t meet the cost of complying with regulations, or are prohibited from growing due to local land-use policies, according to the report,&nbsp;<a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/emeraldgrowers/pages/3249/attachments/original/1519056950/An_Emerging_Crisis.pdf?1519056950" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&ldquo;An Emerging Crisis: Barriers To Entry In California Cannabis.</a>"</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to&nbsp;<strong>Cannabis</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thecannifornian.com/cannabis-news/politics/cannabis-business-cannabis-political-clout-growing-quickly/">Cannabis business, and cannabis' political clout, are growing up quickly</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>The Cannifornian's JEFF HORSEMAN/BROOKE EDWARDS STAGGS</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thecannifornian.com/cannabis-news/california-news/public-bank-pot-entrepreneurs-rest-us/">A public bank for pot entrepreneurs? How about the rest of us?</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>LA Times' DAVID DAYEN</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thecannifornian.com/cannabis-news/northern-california/humboldt-county-cannabis-farmers-protest-tax-compliance-costs/">Humbolt County cannabis farmers protest tax</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>The Cannifornian's WILL HOUSTON</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://capitolweekly.net/ca120-chasing-gop-vote/">CA120: Chasing the GOP vote</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Capitol Weekly's PAUL MITCHELL</strong>: "As reported by CALmatters last week, the Republican side of the governor&rsquo;s race has become an interesting contest to watch because, if for no other reason, of the way these candidates are&nbsp;<a href="https://calmatters.org/articles/difference-republicans-governor-try-disagree/">trying to differentiate</a>&nbsp;themselves before the June primary election."</p>
<p>"A debate in San Francisco led moderator John Diaz from the Chronicle to exclaim &ldquo;This is the first time in San Francisco I have heard an argument among people about who most supports Donald Trump!"</p>
<p>"That might be a rare occurrence in San Francisco, but the real audience for these gubernatorial candidates isn&rsquo;t the average Chronicle reader or Bay Area resident. Their audience was the small sliver of potential debate viewers who are high-propensity voters and projected to be voting on the Republican side of the ticket &ndash; a couple million voters, or approximately 5% of the state&rsquo;s total population."</p>
<p><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-california-democrats-gather-this-week-to-1519111125-htmlstory.html">California Democrats gather this week to chart course for 2018, and hear from candidates for 2020</a></b></p>
<p><b>LA Times' SEEMA MEHTA</b>: "Thousands of California Democrats will gather this week in San Diego for their annual convention, featuring several potential presidential contenders as well as candidates battling for endorsements from the party faithful in advance of the June primary."</p>
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<p>"Potential 2020 candidates speaking at the convention include Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Sen. Kamala Harris and billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer."</p>
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<p>"One notable California Democrat who repeatedly ran for president is not scheduled to appear:&nbsp;Gov. Jerry Brown, in his final year leading the state. He has previously&nbsp;<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-california-democrats-jerry-brown-fracking-20140308-story.html">faced protests and heckling</a>&nbsp;from critics who did not agree with his stance on fracking."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>State Politics</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article200966309.html">This Tom McClintock rival is stretching the truth about her r&eacute;sum&eacute;, investigation finds</a> -- <strong>McClatchy DC's EMILY CADEI</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-huerta-central-valley-20180220-story.html">Dolores Huerta's legacy and influence are shaping the race for this competitive California congressional district</a> -- <strong>LA Times' SARAH D. WIRE</strong></p>
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<p><b><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-firefighters-go-all-in-for-Breed-in-12620920.php">SF firefighters go 'all in' for Breed in mayoral race</a></b></p>
<p><b>The Chronicle's MATIER &amp; ROSS</b>: "The San Francisco firefighters union has opted not to do a ranked-choice endorsement and instead is going &ldquo;all in&rdquo; for Supervisor&nbsp;<strong>London Breed&nbsp;</strong>in the June mayoral race."</p>
<p>"The decision isn&rsquo;t going over well with supporters of former Supervisor&nbsp;<strong>Angela Alioto,</strong>&nbsp;who finished second in a vote of the rank and file. But union President&nbsp;<strong>Tom O&rsquo;Connor&nbsp;</strong>noted that it was the members themselves who made the call in a show-of-hands vote."</p>
<p>"<span>The endorsement followed a candidates forum attended by about 300 of the union&rsquo;s 1,500 members, where Supervisor&nbsp;</span><strong>Jane Kim</strong><span>, former State Sen.&nbsp;</span><strong>Mark Leno,</strong><span>&nbsp;Alioto and Breed were questioned on everything from homelessness and drug overdoses to how the reshaping of city streets to accommodate bikes and pedestrians could affect fire trucks and ambulances."</span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Local Politics</strong>: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-citizen-oversight-in-limbo-despite-600-12625687.php">Oakland citizen oversight in limbo despite $600M bond for repairs</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's KIMBERLY VEKLEROV</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-immigrant-family-separations-2018-story.html">Migrant advocates say US is separating parents from children to discourage illegal immigration and asylum requests</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE</strong>: "Thousands of parents who crossed illegally into the U.S. in recent years have been held with their children at immigration detention centers. But the case of a Brazilian woman and her son illustrates what migrant advocates call a harsher approach to immigration enforcement that aims to separate parents and children."</p>
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<p data-page="1">"She's being held in Texas, while her son was taken to a shelter in Illinois. The unspoken goal, advocates say, is to discourage parents from crossing illegally or attempting to request asylum."</p>
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<p>"The Brazilian mother &mdash; who asked to be identified only as Jocelyn because she was fleeing domestic violence &mdash; entered the U.S. last August with her 14-year-old son, who she said was being threatened by gangs. They hoped to apply for asylum."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Immigration</strong>: <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/h-1b-visas-how-the-trump-administration-is-freaking-people-out/">H-1B visas: How the Trump administration is 'freaking people out'</a> -- <strong>BANG's QUEENIE WONG</strong></p>
<p><b><a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/borenstein-on-pension-debt-calpers-does-the-right-thing-sort-of/">On pension debt, CalPERS does the right thing -- sort of</a></b></p>
<p><b>BANG's DANIEL BORENSTEIN</b>: "<span>CalPERS, which has&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/02/08/borenstein-aint-seen-nothing-yet-pension-cost-rise-just-starting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cooked the books</a><span>&nbsp;for years, last week turned down the heat a skosh."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>No one should deceive themselves that numbers from the California Public Employees&rsquo; Retirement System, the nation&rsquo;s largest plan, will now accurately portray the extent of the pension crisis."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>But the board&rsquo;s unanimous decision to require that the state and local governments pay down future debt faster was a welcome step that should slightly help long-term shore up the ailing pension plan."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article200867469.html">Cameron Park fundraiser raffles off an AR-15 after Florida shooting. Some were 'in shock'</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's ELLEN GARRISON/TONY BIZJAK/MOLLY SULLIVAN</strong>: "<span>A raffle item at a Cameron Park Fire Department crab feed Saturday night made some attendees so uncomfortable that they left the event."</span></p>
<p><span>"</span>Firefighters were auctioning off an AR-15 rifle, the type of weapon allegedly used Wednesday by Nikolas Cruz in the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead."</p>
<p>"El Dorado Hills resident Allison Merrill and her friends left the crab feed after expressing their concerns about the gun raffle to the organizers, she said."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Gun Violence Pandemic</strong>: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-americans-say-trump-congress-not-doing-enough-to-stop-mass-shootings-post-abc-poll-finds/2018/02/19/3d0005dc-15af-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html?utm_term=.031b0a4383c6">Most Americans say Trump, Congress not doing enough to stop mass shootings, Post-ABC poll finds</a> -- <strong>WaPo's SCOTT CLEMENT/EMILY GUSKIN</strong>; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fla-school-shooting-creates-urgent-push-for-gun-control-bipartisan-calls-for-change/2018/02/19/1279e5e6-15b2-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html?utm_term=.c3743457f4ae">Fla. school shooting creates urgent push for gun control, bipartisan calls for change</a> -- <strong>WaPo's KATIE ZEZIMA</strong>; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-the-weary-white-house-florida-shooting-offered-a-reprieve-from-scandals/2018/02/19/04293442-158a-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html?utm_term=.5a5d67cb352a">For the weary White House, Florida shooting offered a 'reprieve' from scandals</a> -- <strong>WaPo's ASHLEY PARKER/PHILIP RUCKER</strong>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/technology/russian-bots-school-shooting.html">After Florida school shooting, Russian 'bot' army pounced</a> -- <strong>WaPo's SHEERA FRENKEL/DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI</strong>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/business/banks-gun-sales.html">How banks could control gun sales if Washington won't</a> -- <strong>NYT's ANDREW ROSS SORKIN</strong>; <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/12/4/9845146/mass-shootings-gun-control">Why mass shootings don't convince gun owners to support gun control</a> -- <strong>Vox's DAVID ROBERTS</strong></p>
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<p><b><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Ag-Plan-strives-to-preserves-Silicon-Valley-s-12623666.php">Ag Plan strives to preserve Silicon Valley's farming heritage</a></b></p>
<p><b>The Chronicle's SAM WHITING</b>: "For four generations Chris Borello&rsquo;s family has been farming cherries in the Santa Clara Valley, hopscotching their orchards south as developers bought out their land for housing."</p>
<p>"So it was no surprise when a white van came up the long dirt driveway to his orchard in early February. The visitors were interested in his 115 acres, sure enough, but not as developers or speculators. They were farm preservationists looking to buy his development rights, in what is called an agricultural conservation easement."</p>
<p>"<span>We could farm it forever,&rdquo; Borello said, &ldquo;if we can work out an easement.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Energy &amp; Environment</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article200753304.html">Winter bites back: Freeze watch in valley, snow, icy conditions predicted for Sierra</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's BARBARA HARVEY</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Freezing-temperatures-hit-the-Bay-Area-12624917.php">Freezing temperatures hit Bay Area, with lowest still to come</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI/TRISHA THADANI</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/The-Birds-released-in-1963-is-the-movie-12624017.php">'The Birds,' released in 1963, is the movie we need in 2018</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's PETER HARTLAUB</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Wildfires-inspire-new-idea-Charging-rural-12623750.php">Wildfires inspire new idea: Charging rural customers more for electricity</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's DAVID R. BAKER</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article200921074.html">'I was expecting to see bodies.' Blaze forces dozens to flee ramshackle Lodi hotel</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH</strong>; <a href="http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20180219/months-after-fires-destroyed-property-many-victims-are-still-floundering">Months after fires destroyed property, many victims are still floundering</a> -- <strong>Chico ER's LAURA URSENY</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disney-bonus-20180219-story.html">Disney World unions file complaint to get $1,000 bonus promised after corporate tax cut</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' GABRIELLE RUSSON</strong>: "A coalition of unions at Walt Disney World Resorts filed a federal complaint alleging unfair labor practices Monday, accusing the company of holding employees' $1,000 bonuses hostage during contract negotiations."</p>
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<p data-page="1">"Last month, Walt Disney Co. announced it was giving $1,000 each to more than 125,000 employees. The Burbank media giant, similar to many other companies, planned to give extra money to employees after the GOP federal tax overhaul reduced the corporate tax rate."</p>
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<p>"However, the Service Trades Council said Monday that Disney refuses to give employees at the Orlando theme park the bonuses until the union approves a new contract. "If the unionized employees do not accept Disney's offer by August 31, 'the bonus offer will expire,' " according to a news release from the trades council."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Economy &amp; Development</strong>: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/BART-tells-A-s-to-forget-about-a-new-station-at-12621038.php">BART tells A's to forget about a new station at a waterfront ballpark</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's MATIER &amp; ROSS</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-cfpb-trump-budget-20180220-story.html">Under Trump, consumer agency promises to do the bare minimum, and nothing more</a> -- <strong>LA Times' DAVID LAZARUS</strong>; <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/19/17018380/gender-wage-gap-childcare-penalty">A stunning chart shows the true cause of the gender wage gap</a> -- <strong>Vox's SARAH KLIFF</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article200922129.html">Are ultra-low mortgage rates going away? What higher interest rates could mean for homebuyers</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's HUDSON SANGREE</strong>: "<span>Mortgage rates hit a four-year high late last week, and it&rsquo;s looking like the years of ultra-low-cost home loans are coming to an end, experts said."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>I would say this has been a long time coming,&rdquo; said Dan Starelli, head of Guild Mortgage in Sacramento. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had interest rates dropping for decades. I think we hit bottom. I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ll see rates in the 3s again."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages now hover in the 4.5 percent range after a run-up over the past month that was prompted by stock market volatility and strong signs of economic growth."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Housing &amp; Homelessness</strong>: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-judge-carter-profile-20180220-story.html">For David Carter, the federal judge at center of clash between OC officials and riverbed homeless, his roll-up-his-sleeves style is nothing new</a> -- <strong>LA Times' CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/UC-Hastings-expansion-will-add-housing-bring-12625324.php">UC Hastings expansion will add housing, bring YMCA back to Tenderloin</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's JK DINEEN</strong>: "<span>UC Hastings College of the Law is embarking on an aggressive expansion of its Tenderloin campus, a five-year project that will include not only new housing and academic buildings, but also a three-level YMCA the school hopes will help strengthen connections with the hardscrabble neighborhood it has long called home."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>Next month, Hastings plans to start construction on the first piece of a long-planned campus makeover, a $58 million, 55,000-square-foot academic building to be erected on a vacant lot the school owns at 333 Golden Gate Ave., between Larkin and Hyde streets."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>That new building will set three projects in motion. Once the new academic building opens in late 2019, Hastings will knock down an existing 1953 structure known as Snodgrass Hall and replace it with a 14-story, 592-unit residential tower that will be split between students from the law school and from UCSF. In addition, Hastings will renovate an existing residential structure at 100 McAllister St."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Education</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article200601509.html">Elite or elitist? Why there are so few African-American and Latin-American students in high school AP classes</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's ANITA CHABRIA/DIANA LAMBERT</strong>; <a href="https://edsource.org/2018/big-data-classes-a-big-hit-in-california-high-schools/593838">'Big data' classes a big hit in California high schools</a> -- <strong>EdSource's CAROLYN JONES</strong>; <a href="https://edsource.org/2018/youth-advocates-pushing-to-expand-californias-ban-on-willful-defiance-suspensions/593754">Countdown to expand ban on 'willful defiance' suspensions in California schools</a> -- <strong>EdSource's DAVID WASHBURN</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/19/health-care-workers-to-protest-possible-southern-california-kaiser-permanentes-layoffs-plans-in-baldwin-park/">Health care workers to protest possible Kaiser plan to layoff call center employees</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>SGV Tribune's KEVIN SMITH</strong>: "<span>Hundreds of health care workers are expected to gather Wednesday at&nbsp;</span><a href="https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/">Kaiser Permanente</a><span>&lsquo;s Baldwin Park facility to protest the provider&rsquo;s alleged plan to&nbsp;lay off 300 call center employees and move their jobs to other areas of California where the pay is lower."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>The&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.seiu-uhw.org/">SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West</a><span>&nbsp;union, which represents more than 55,000 Kaiser employees in California, including 2,149 at Kaiser Baldwin Park, claims the health care organization is planning to lay off those employees plus another 160 call center workers in Woodland Hills and 192 more at its Los Angeles Medical Center."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>The nonprofit plans to move the jobs to Riverside, Fontana and San Diego, the union said, where the positions would pay $2 per hour less, the union says."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article200507139.html">Teen girls had no IDs and one-way first class tickets. Why that alarmed airline employee</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's BENJY EGEL</strong>: "<span>Quick thinking from an American Airlines employee at Sacramento International Airport likely saved two teenage girls from lives in captivity."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>American Airlines customer service agent Denice Miracle knew something was awry when two girls from the Vacavillle-Fairfield area, ages 17 and 15, came to her ticket counter on Aug. 31. The girls had no identification, were unaccompanied by adults and had two first-class tickets booked by another person with a fraudulent credit card, according to an airline news release."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>Between the two of them, they had a bunch of small bags. It seemed to me as if they were running away from home,&rdquo; Miracle said in the release. &ldquo;They kept looking at each other in a way that seemed fearful and anxious. I had a gut feeling that something just wasn&rsquo;t right."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/New-command-center-strives-to-tackle-homeless-12623740.php">New command center strives to tackle homeless issues more quickly in SF</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA</strong>: "<span>Given the&nbsp;</span><a href="http://projects.sfchronicle.com/sf-homeless/">intensifying urgency</a><span>&nbsp;of San Francisco&rsquo;s homelessness crisis, it&rsquo;s perhaps fitting that the vanguard of the city&rsquo;s efforts to bring people off the streets is now based in the same building where officials and first responders gather together to confront major emergencies."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>For the past month, a quintet of municipal departments has been working side by side within the Department of Emergency Management on Turk Street. Their task has been to create a central hub for the city&rsquo;s attempts to respond to nonemergency homelessness complaints and to better connect those living on the streets to health and housing services."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>The new project is an exercise in cooperation among city departments designed to respond to and resolve homelessness-related complaints more rapidly. The San Francisco Police Department, Public Works, Department of Public Health, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the city&rsquo;s 311 system make up the core of what&rsquo;s been called the Healthy Streets Operations Center. But the project is also receiving support from the city controller, city administrator and the Mayor&rsquo;s Office of Housing."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article200969324.html">Witnesses in Sacramento terror case testify from Pakistan in rare late-night court session</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's STEPHEN MAGAGNINI</strong>: "<span>In what legal experts are calling one of the first cases of its kind, a Sacramento federal courtroom stayed open until 10 p.m. two nights last week to take live video testimony from Pakistani witnesses 7,353 miles away."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>All four Pakistanis testified as alibi witnesses in the evidentiary hearing on whether to free&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article197251474.html" target="_blank" title="">Lodi cherry picker Hamid Hayat</a><span>, who has spent 12 years in prison after being convicted in 2006 of lying to the FBI and providing assistance to terrorists."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>Hayat&rsquo;s legal team, led by criminal appellate specialist Dennis Riordan, has been fighting for years to prove that he never attended a terrorist camp in Pakistan and was coerced into confessing during two days of grueling interrogation by the FBI."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/710-freeway-may-dedicate-a-lane-for-electric-vehicles-and-charge-them-while-they-travel/">SoCal freeway may dedicate a lane for electric vehicles -- and charge them while they travel</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Mercury News' STEVE SCAUZILLO</strong>: "<span>As part of a $6 billion widening of the 710 Freeway, a Metro committee is asking the transit agency to add a lane dedicated to electric vehicles &mdash; cars, buses and trucks &mdash; which would use wireless power transmission pads placed in the roadway to recharge their batteries as they travel."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>While wireless charging is being used at transit yards, including in the Antelope Valley to power electric buses, the notion of a freeway lane embedded with devices that continuously recharge a moving vehicle&rsquo;s battery pack would be a first in the United States."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>I think the technology exists or is about to exist, so we can have both long-haul trucks as well as cars be zero-emission,&rdquo; Janice Hahn, county supervisor and board member for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday. &ldquo;I believe the market will respond to Metro creating that policy."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/article200735709.html">Biden, in public and private, tiptoes toward a 2020 run</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>AP's JOSH LEDERMAN</strong>: "<span>Former Vice President Joe Biden is tiptoeing toward a potential presidential run in 2020, even broaching the possibility during a recent gathering of longtime foreign policy aides."</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>Huddled in his newly opened office steps from the U.S. Capitol, Biden began a planning meeting for his new diplomacy center by addressing the elephant in the room. He said he was keeping his 2020 options open, considering it a real possibility. He insisted he had made no decision, and didn't need to yet, according to five people who either attended the meeting or were briefed on it by those who did."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"<span>Biden also expressed interest in bringing those in the room onto his team if he decides to launch a campaign. At the same time, he gave them an out: There would be no hard feelings if they decided they were content in their current roles outside of government, said the people, who demanded anonymity to discuss a private meeting."</span></span></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-rick-gates-plea-deal-20180218-story.html">Former Trump aide Richard Gates to plead guilty; agrees to testify against Manafort, sources say</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' DAVID WILLMAN</strong>: "A former top aide to Donald Trump's presidential campaign will plead guilty to fraud-related charges within days &mdash; and has made clear to prosecutors that he would testify against Paul Manafort, the lawyer-lobbyist who once managed the campaign."</p>
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<p>"Rick Gates is going to change his plea to guilty,'' said a person with direct knowledge of the new developments, adding that the revised plea will be presented in federal court in Washington "within the next few days."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>POTUS45/KremlinGate</strong>: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-essential-washington-updates-trump-endorses-romney-for-senate-bid-in-1519099564-htmlstory.html">Trump endorses Romney in Utah Senate race</a> -- <strong>AP</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-melania-20180220-story.html">How much more humiliation can Melania Trump take?</a> -- <strong>LA Times' ROBIN ABCARIAN</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article200783664.html">Trump criticizes FBI over handling of shooting suspect tip</a> -- <strong>AP's CATHERINE LUCEY</strong>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/us/elections-states-hacking.html">State officials say they are told too little about election threats</a> -- <strong>NYT's MICHAEL WINES</strong>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/us/politics/russian-operatives-facebook-twitter.html">How unwitting Americans encountered Russian operatives online</a> -- <strong>NYT's SCOTT SHANE</strong>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/trump-obama-russian-meddling.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news">Trump tries to shift blame to Obama for not countering Russian meddling</a> -- <strong>NYT's EILEEN SULLIVAN</strong>; <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-executive-rob-goldman-apologizes-to-company-and-robert-mueller/">A Facebook executive apologizes to his company -- and to Robert Mueller</a> -- <strong>Wired's NICHOLAS THOMPSON</strong>; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/19/politics/mueller-investigation-kushner-foreign-financing-efforts/index.html">Mueller's interest in Kushner grows to include foreign financing efforts</a> -- <strong>CNN's SHIMON PROKUPECZ/KARA SCANNELL/GLORIA BORGER</strong>; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-russia-indictment-challenges-trump-belief-about-2016-election-legitimacy-2018-2">There's a specific reason why Trump leveled an unprecedented level of frustration toward the Russia probe this weekend</a> -- <strong>Business Insider's SONAM SHETH</strong>; <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/19/17027456/fox-news-mueller-indictment-trump">Fox News's appalling past 72 hours, analyzed</a> -- <strong>VOX's ALVIN CHANG</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/trump-accuser-keeps-telling-her-story-hoping-someone-will-finally-listen/">Trump accuser keeps telling her story, hoping someone will finally listen</a> -- <strong>WaPo's ELI SASLOW</strong>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/us/politics/michael-cohen-trump.html">Tools of Trump's fixer: Payouts, intimidation and the tabloids</a> -- <strong>NYT's JIM RUTENBERG/MEGAN TWOHEY/REBECCA R. RUIZ/MIKE MCINTIRE/MAGGIE HABERMAN</strong>; <strong>OP-ED</strong>: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/opinion/trump-conservatism-republicans.html">Missing Conservatism? Just wait for a Democratic president</a> -- <strong>NYT's MATT GROSSMANN</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/20/its-not-a-war-its-a-massacre-scores-killed-in-syrian-enclave-eastern-ghouta">'It's not a war. It's a massacre.' More than 100 killed in Assad regime hospital-barrell bombing campaign in Syrian enclave.&nbsp;</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Guardian's KAREEM SHAHEEN</strong>: "Pro-regime forces continued to bombard the opposition-controlled enclave of eastern Ghouta in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/syria" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" data-component="auto-linked-tag" >Syria</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday, leaving dozens dead, after more than 100 people were killed and hundreds wounded on a day of &ldquo;hysterical&rdquo; violence on Monday."</p>
<p>"The surge in the killing came amid reports of an impending regime incursion into the area outside Damascus, which is home to 400,000 civilians. More than 700 people have been killed in three months, according to local counts, not including the deaths in the last week."</p>
<p>"<span>Five hospitals were also bombed on Monday in eastern Ghouta, which was once the breadbasket of Damascus but has been&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/08/syria-east-ghouta-third-day-bombing" data-link-name="in body link" >under siege for years by the government</a><span>&nbsp;of Bashar al-Assad and subjected to devastating chemical attacks. Two hospitals suspended operations and one has been put out of service."</span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Syria</strong>: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/world/article/Russia-s-Foreign-Ministry-says-several-dozens-12626587.php">Russia's Foreign Ministry says ''several dozens'' of Russians hospitalized after being injured in fighting in Syria</a> -- <strong>AP</strong></p>
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</div><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>Mendoza in limbo2018-02-20T05:24:00Zurn:blog:wnzcoopu1y8pw9.15jgj15xdcq1oec2018-02-16T15:12:05Z<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article200399274.html">Accused lawmaker sues Senate over 'mystery' sex harassment probe</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA</strong>: "Sen. Tony Mendoza,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article185133028.html" target="_blank" title="">under investigation for sexual harassment of three former employees</a>, filed a lawsuit Thursday that asserts the Senate has treated him unfairly and violated his constitutional rights when a panel of lawmakers extended his voluntary leave of absence late last month."</p>
<p>"The Senate&rsquo;s disparate treatment of its own members and their constituents, along with its constantly evolving and secretive investigative process is wrong and deeply troubling,&rdquo; Mendoza said in a statement. &ldquo;The Senate&rsquo;s process and procedures for handling sexual harassment allegations remain a mystery, which unfairly impacts not only me, but also my constituents, the public, and victims of sexual harassment, who have no idea how their complaints will be handled."</p>
<p>"The Bee&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article183704591.html" target="_blank" title="">reported sexual harassment allegations against Mendoza last fall&nbsp;</a>involving three former employees over the last 10 years, which prompted the Senate to hire an outside law firm to investigate the Artesia Democrat."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to&nbsp;<strong>Me Too</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/15/new-claims-of-misconduct-arise-against-assembly-member-cristina-garcia-already-on-leave-while-facing-harassment-accusations/">New claims of misconduct arise against Assembly member Cristina Garcia, already on leave while facing harassment accusations</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>AP's KATHLEEN RONAYNE</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-should-see-big-temperature-drop-starting-12616353.php">Dry weather expected to persist in most of California</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER/SOPHIE HAIGNEY</strong>: "The odds of a March miracle rescuing California from a desperately dry winter are not looking good."</p>
<p>"Thursday&rsquo;s monthly report from the federal Climate Prediction Center cites below-average rain and snow as the most likely weather scenario for almost all of the state for the next three months."</p>
<p>"California has seen only a fraction of its average rainfall since December, with parts of the southern state getting less than 2 inches during what&rsquo;s historically the rainiest part of the year. Water managers have been holding out hope that the end of winter or early spring might bring a turnaround."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to&nbsp;<strong>Energy &amp; Environment</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Fragranced-products-to-blame-for-smog-as-much-as-12618108.php">Fragranced products to blame for smog as much as cars, study finds</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-russia-mayak-20180216-story.html">Radiation levels near this Siberian village were 1,000 times above normal last fall. But no one worried much</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>LA Times' SABRA AYRES</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20180215/oroville-dam-assemblyman-james-gallagher-brings-group-of-legislators-to-oroville">Oroville Dam: Assemblyman James Gallagher brings group of legislators to Oroville</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Chico ER's RISA JOHNSON</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/bay-area-forecast-pleasant-weekend-then-coldest-temperatures-of-2018/">Bay Area forecast: Pleasant weekend, then coldest temperatures of 2018</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Mercury News' MARK GOMEZ</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/google-buys-big-downtown-san-jose-storage-complex-village-purchases-resume/">Google buys big downtown San Jose storage complex, resuming village purchases</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>BANG's GEORGE AVALOS</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article200191149.html">CalPERS pension or a 401(k)? State workers could choose under Democrat's bill</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON</strong>: "New state workers would have a choice about whether they want to join CalPERs under a bill a Senate Democrat submitted on Wednesday."</p>
<p>"The bill by Sen. Steve Glazer of Orinda is a long shot. Lawmakers last year rejected other proposals to change public employee pensions, such as a bill that would have suspended&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article146516764.html" target="_blank" title="">cost-of-living adjustments&nbsp;</a>that retirees receive."</p>
<p>"Glazer&rsquo;s proposal, Senate Bill 1149, would enable new state workers to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article199324794.html" target="_blank" title="">choose alternate retirement options&nbsp;</a>outside of the California Public Employees&rsquo; Retirement System, such as a defined contribution 401(k) plan."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/house-republicans-americans-disabilities-act-civil-rights-808106">House votes to gut the Americans with Disabilities Act to nip 'abuse lawsuits'</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Newsweek's CARLOS BALLESTEROS</strong>: "In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/congress/votes/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">225-192 vote</a>&nbsp;Thursday, most House Republicans and a dozen&nbsp;Democrats passed a bill that makes it harder for disabled persons to sue for discrimination, in an effort to prevent opportunistic attorneys&nbsp;from taking advantage of business owners."</p>
<p>"But many&nbsp;<a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/disability-rights-how-to-help?mbid=social_twitter" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">disability</a>&nbsp;and civil rights&nbsp;groups fear the bill will weaken incentives for businesses to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which mandates equal access to public accommodations."</p>
<p>"Proponents argue that&nbsp;the bill, the ADA Education and Reform Act, or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/620/text" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">H.R. 620</a>, is necessary to stem the flow of "drive-by lawsuits" brought by lawyers who only wish to line their pockets. The bill would require those filing suit in federal court against&nbsp;businesses for not complying with the ADA to first give that business 60 days to devise a plan to fix the problem. They then have&nbsp;another 120 days to implement the changes."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/index.php/news/local-news/12855-california-congresswoman-issues-statement-opposing-bill-to-undermine-the-americans-with-disabilities-act">California Congresswoman issues statement opposing bill to undermine the ADA</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sierra Sun Times</strong>: "House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued this statement opposing the discriminatory anti-ADA legislation,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/620" target="_blank" rel="noopener">H.R. 620</a>, which is scheduled for a vote on Thursday:"</p>
<p>&ldquo;For more than a quarter of a century, the Americans with Disabilities Act has advanced our nation&rsquo;s mission to build a fair, equal and just future for all.&nbsp; This milestone law has transformed the lives of the 55 million Americans who live with a disability, and shattered barriers to full participation in society.&nbsp; Congress should be building on that progress, not undermining it."</p>
<p>"This discriminatory bill harms the civil rights of people with disabilities, and sets a troubling precedent that would harm the rights of all who rely on civil rights laws.&nbsp; The bill would institute burdensome notice and filing requirements that would have the effect of no longer requiring compliance with the ADA and of denying discrimination victims access to federal courts. "</p>
<p><b><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Lawsuit-to-move-up-SF-District-Two-supervisor-12618021.php">Lawsuit to move up SF District Two supervisor election dismissed</a></b></p>
<p><b>The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN/DOMINIC FRACASSA</b>: "A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Thursday scrapped a lawsuit seeking to move the District Two election from November to June."</p>
<p>"Candidate&nbsp;<strong>Nick Josefowitz</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-District-2-candidates-sues-to-move-election-up-12544801.php">sued the city</a>&nbsp;and his opponent, Supervisor&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/SF-Supervisor-Stefani-fires-back-at-opponent-who-12563352.php"><strong>Catherine Stefani</strong>&nbsp;</a>, shortly after Mayor&nbsp;<strong>Mark Farrell</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-s-county-clerk-selected-to-replace-new-Mayor-12536868.php">picked Stefani</a>&nbsp;to fill the seat he previously occupied. Josefowitz cited a charter amendment voters approved in 2001 that calls for minimizing the time a political appointee spends in office before facing the ballot, saying it should trigger an election in June, in addition to the one in November."</p>
<p>"<span>But Superior Court Judge&nbsp;</span><strong>Harold Kahn</strong><span>&nbsp;said the election didn&rsquo;t have to take place that soon and dismissed the case. Josefowitz has vowed to appeal the lawsuit in the state Court of Appeals."</span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article200463144.html">Senate rejects immigration bills; young immigrants in limbo</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>AP's ALAN FRAM/KEVIN FREKING</strong>: "The Senate has left hundreds of thousands of "Dreamer" immigrants in limbo, rejecting rival plans that would have spared them from deportation and strengthened the nation's border security. Senators dealt President Donald Trump an especially galling defeat as more than a quarter of fellow Republicans abandoned him on an issue that helped propel him to the White House."</p>
<p>"Also defeated Thursday was a plan by a bipartisan group of senators who offered a compromise that would have shielded the young immigrants and financed Trump's demands for money to build his border wall, though more gradually than he wants. Eight Republicans joined most Democrats in backing that plan, but it fell short after the White House threatened a veto and GOP leaders opposed it."</p>
<p>"The day's votes, in which four separate proposals were defeated, illustrated anew Congress' steep challenge in striking a deal on an issue that's proven intractable for years and on which each party's most fervent supporters refuse to budge. The outcome suggested there may be no permanent solution soon to help the young immigrants, who were brought to the U.S. as children, despite their sky-high support in public polling."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Immigration</strong>: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ice-audits-20180216-story.html">ICE steps up enforcement at businesses in California, targeting employers and workers</a> -- <strong>LA Times' ADAM ELMAHREK</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-court-dreamers-20180216-story.html">Trump lawyers press SCOTUS to act fast on 'Dreamers' and abortion dispute</a> -- <strong>LA Times' DAVID G. SAVAGE</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ice-protest-20180215-story.html">Immigrant rights activists block Homeland Security van from accessing Metropolitan Detention Center</a> -- <strong>LA Times' ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/fbis-near-brush-with-suspect-in-fla-school-shooting-draws-scrutiny/2018/02/15/e4d09b92-1275-11e8-9570-29c9830535e5_story.html?nid&utm_term=.060b39f615c4">Comment drew notice: 'I'm going to be a professional school shooter'</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>WaPo's MATT ZAPOTOSKY/DEVLIN BARRETT/EMMA BROWN</strong>: "A tipster alerted the FBI in September to a disturbing comment that had been left beneath an online video. &ldquo;Im going to be a professional school shooter,&rdquo; read the comment, posted by YouTube user &ldquo;nikolas cruz.&rdquo;</p>
<p>"Two FBI agents interviewed the caller, Mississippi bail bondsman Ben Bennight, the next day. The bureau checked public and law enforcement databases for anyone by Cruz&rsquo;s name who might be of concern, the FBI said, but could not identify the person who left the comment."</p>
<p>"Five months later, police say, Nikolas Cruz, 19, walked into the Florida high school from which he had been expelled and opened fire, killing 17 people in one of the nation&rsquo;s deadliest school shootings."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Gun Pandemic</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/article200404184.html">Lawmakers use campaign funds for NRA dues</a> -- <strong>McClatchy DC's BEN WIEDER</strong>l; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/16/in-aftermath-of-shooting-a-community-mourns-and-wonders-why/">Uber, rampage, then McDonald's: timeline of Florida school shooting</a> -- <strong>AP's KELLI KENNEDY/CURT ANDERSON/TAMARA LUSH</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/article200244229.html">The victims of the Douglas High mass shooting</a> -- <strong>Miami Herald's RENE RODRIGUEZ/MONIQUE O. MADAN/ALEX HARRIS/MARTIN VASOLLO</strong>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/gun-access-mentally-ill.html">Officials renew call to limit gun access by the mentally ill</a> -- <strong>NYT's BENJAMIN MUELLER</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/education/article/Florida-high-school-shooting-plunges-city-into-12615409.php">Florida gunman had extra ammo at school, fired for 3 minutes</a> -- <b>AP's TERRY SPENCER/KELLI KENNEDY/TAMARA LUSH</b>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Florida-school-shooting-renews-focus-on-12617863.php">Florida school shooter may not have been able to buy same gun in California</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's JENNA LYONS</strong>;<strong>&nbsp;OP-ED</strong>: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-Enough-Congress-must-act-on-gun-safety-12618010.php">Enough! Congress must act on gun safety</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's EDITORIAL BOARD</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/They-ve-prepared-in-drills-They-ve-heard-12617933.php">They've prepared in drills. They've heard prayers. Now students want real solutions to gun violence</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-florida-shooter-profile-20180215-story.html">FBI was warned about Florida school shooting suspect 5 months ago</a> -- <strong>LA Times' MATT PEARCE/JENNY JARVIE</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-florida-shooting-20180215-story.html">In the wake of tragedy, Trump struggles to show his empathetic side</a> -- <strong>LA Times' CHRISTI PARSONS</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-manhattan-beach-airsoft-snapchat-20180215-story.html">Manhattan Beach teen arrested after posting Snapchat photo of airsoft gun pointed at students</a> -- <strong>LA Times' ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN</strong>; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/02/15/florida-school-shooting-suspect-booked-on-17-counts-of-murder-premeditated/?utm_term=.02bc5739dda6">Accused South Florida shooter confessed to rampage that killed 17 people</a> -- <strong>WaPo's LORI ROZSA/MARK BERMAN/RENAE MERLE</strong>; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-ran-out-of-words-on-mass-shootings-trump-has-struggled-to-find-them/2018/02/15/9c173608-126c-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_florida-trump-810pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.a9cf2bdec5bd">Obama ran out of words on mass shootings. Trump has struggled to find them.</a> -- <strong>WaPo's GREG JAFFE/JENNA JOHNSON</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/would-california-style-gun-laws-have-helped-stop-florida-school-shooting/">Would California-style gun laws have helped stop Florida school shooting?</a> -- <strong>BANG's JOHN WOOLFOLK</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/16/threats-hoaxes-anxiety-and-arrests-an-uneasiness-in-schools-after-florida-shooting/">Threats, hoaxes, anxiety and arrests: An uneasiness in schools after Florida shooting</a> -- <strong>WaPo</strong>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/opinion/the-nra-can-be-beat.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region"><strong>OP-ED</strong>: The NRA can be beat</a> -- <strong>NYT's EDITORIAL BOARD</strong>; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/02/15/its-time-to-bring-back-the-assault-weapons-ban-gun-violence-experts-say/?utm_term=.7db80531b77d">It's time to bring back the assault weapons ban, gun violence experts say</a> -- <strong>WaPo's CHRISTOPHER INGRAHAM</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article200400399.html">A whale on the way? Republic FC in talks with 'several' potential billionaire investors</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's RYAN LILLIS</strong>: "The group leading Sacramento&rsquo;s effort to land an expansion spot in Major League Soccer said it has held serious conversations with several billionaires interested in becoming investors in the bid."</p>
<p>"Those talks have been with at least three potential investors who could take a lead role &ndash; or lead roles &ndash; as Sacramento competes with Cincinnati and Detroit for the 26th spot in the nation&rsquo;s top pro soccer league."</p>
<p>"Sacramento Republic FC officials previously said they are searching for new investors who will help not only cover an estimated $250 million in stadium construction costs and a $150 million MLS expansion fee, but also solidify the team&rsquo;s long-term viability as a major league franchise."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Economy &amp; Development</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article200401534.html">Sacramento finalizing bid to land NBA All-Star Game</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's RYAN LILLIS</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article200330899.html">Science museum could get $7M in naming rights deal with this company</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's RYAN LILLIS</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dog-food-euthanasia-drug-20180215-story.html">Several canned dog food brands are withdrawn over concerns about euthanasia drug</a> -- <strong>AP</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-peter-thiel-20180215-story.html">Peter Thiel, retreating from Silicon Valley's tech scene, is moving to LA</a> -- <strong>LA Times' JAMES F. PELTZ/DAVID PIERSON</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/16/why-stock-prices-rarely-reflect-companies-true-value/">Why stock prices rarely reflect companies' true value</a> -- <strong>Pension Dynamics' STEVE BUTLER</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article200302759.html">Science project on race and IQ tests boundaries of free speech in high schools</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's DIANA LAMBERT/ANITA CHABRIA</strong>: "When does freedom of speech cross the line on a school campus? As society grows ever more polarized and controversial statements quickly go viral on social media, school leaders are increasingly confronting the boundaries."</p>
<p>"A&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article199773129.html" target="_blank" title="">science fair project at McClatchy High School</a>in Sacramento drew&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article199440204.html" target="_blank" title="">nationwide media attention&nbsp;</a>last week when it attempted to link IQ and race to explain racial disparities in the campus&rsquo; high-achieving program. The project was on display for two days before school officials removed it, saying that it had disrupted the learning environment."</p>
<p>"While students questioned why the project was allowed to remain for days despite complaints, some conservatives wondered if the student&rsquo;s free speech rights were violated when it was taken down."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Education</strong>: <a href="https://edsource.org/2018/youth-advocates-pushing-to-expand-californias-ban-on-willful-defiance-suspensions/593754">Countdown to expand ban on 'willful defiance' suspensions in California schools</a> -- <strong>EdSource's DAVID WASHBURN</strong>; <a href="https://edsource.org/2018/michael-kirst-weighs-another-4-years-on-state-board-after-jerry-brown-departs/593369">Michael Kirst weighs another 4 years on state education board after Gov. Brown departs</a> --<strong>EdSource's JOHN FENSTERWALD</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-craig-coley-wrongful-conviction-20180215-story.html">Record payout approved for Simi Valley man wrongfully convicted of grisly 1978 murders</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN</strong>: "For years, from inside a cell at Folsom State Prison, Craig Coley couldn't get anyone to listen."</p>
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<p data-page="1">"But his message was clear and consistent: He was innocent. The killer who actually raped, beat and strangled his ex-girlfriend and smothered her 4-year-old son in her Simi Valley apartment Nov. 11, 1978, was still out there."</p>
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<p>"I couldn't get anybody's ear," Coley recalled. "They were done, they put me away and they were moving on to other things."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Public Safety</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article200316014.html">Wife of cop-killer found guilty of murder for helping him move gun used in killings</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's SAM STANTON;&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20180215/proven-probation-re-entry-program-to-be-expanded">Proven probation re-entry program to be extended</a><strong>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Chico ER's STAFF</strong></strong></p>
<p><strong><strong><a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/16/how-these-bay-area-cities-are-paving-the-way-for-our-autonomous-car-future/">How these Bay Area cities are paving the way for our autonomous car future</a></strong></strong></p>
<p><strong><strong>BANG's ERIN BALDASSARI</strong></strong>: "<span>Within two to three years, bicyclists in Emeryville and Los Gatos will be able to download an app to get more green lights at. . ." $$</span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-healthcare-uncovered-procedure-20180216-story.html">500-pound man's doctor says he'll die without surgery. His insurer shrugs it off</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' DAVID LAZARUS</strong>: "Norwalk resident Shawn Alvarado started packing on the pounds as a teenager, gradually becoming one of millions of Americans whose sedentary lifestyle made him a statistic in the country's obesity epidemic."</p>
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<p data-page="1">"By the age of 24, Alvarado weighed 300 pounds."</p>
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<p>"By the age of 31, he weighed 400 pounds."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <b>Health &amp; Healthcare</b>: <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/california-judge-postpones-aetna-trial-amid-media-firestorm/">California Judge postpones Aetna trial amid media firestorm</a> -- <strong>CHL's BARBARA FEDER OSTROV</strong>; <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/bill-of-the-month-a-college-students-17850-drug-test/">'Bill of the month': A college student's $17,850 drug test</a> -- <strong>CHL's FRED SCHULTE</strong>; <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/hospitals-want-to-cut-back-on-free-care-critics-say-no-way/">Hospitals want to cut back on free care. Critics say no way</a> -- <strong>CHL's PAULINE BARTOLONE</strong>; <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/listen-got-a-sky-high-bill-dont-write-the-check/">Listen: Got a sky-high bill? Don't write the check</a>. -- <strong>CHL</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/article200392489.html">Documents haven't quelled JFK conspiracy theories. Do the answers lie abroad?</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>McClatchy DC's KEVIN G. HALL</strong>: "Does the key to unlocking the enduring mystery of the Kennedy assassination lie abroad, in Belarus, Cuba or Mexico?"</p>
<p>"A special review board created in the 1990s to declassify U.S. government assassination secrets tried to secure important information from those countries. It was unsuccessful."</p>
<p>"But as the window for the 25-year-long declassification of John F. Kennedy assassination documents closes on April 26 &mdash; with experts warning that a smoking-gun document is unlikely to turn up in the remaining tens of thousands of U.S. government files &mdash; pursuit of definitive answers is likely to shift overseas."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article200264994.html">A somber Trump calls for policies addressing mental health, but not guns</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>McClatchy DC's ANITA KUMAR</strong>: "A somber President Donald Trump tried to reassure the nation&rsquo;s children Thursday, a day after a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article200223414.html" target="_blank" title="">mass shooting</a>&nbsp;in Florida. But he did not mention specific policy changes he would support, including those on gun regulations or laws, which could possibly prevent a school shooting."</p>
<p>"I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be,&rdquo; Trump said. &ldquo;You have people who care about you, who love you and who will do anything at all to protect you."</p>
<p>"In his first public address about the shooting, Trump singled out mental health as a security concern. But he steered clear of the contentious debate over gun control that has raged in Washington for years with little action."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>POTUS45/KremlinGate</strong>: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/politics/trumps-inaugural-committee-paid-26-million-to-first-ladys-friend.html">Trump's inaugural committee paid $26M to firm of FLOTUS adviser</a> -- <strong>NYT's MAGGIE HABERMAN/KENNETH P. VOGEL</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/celebrities/article200381264.html">Stormy Daniels kept shiny gold dress from alleged affair with Trump</a> -- <strong>NY Daily News' TERENCE CULLEN</strong>; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/politics/rick-gates-plea-deal-mueller-russia-investigation/index.html">A top Trump campaign adviser close to plea deal with Mueller</a> -- <strong>CNN's KATELYN POLANTZ/SARA MURRAY</strong>; <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/steve-bannon-met-mueller-multiple-times-over-past-week-n848421">Steve Bannon met with Mueller multiple times over the past week</a> -- <strong>NBC News' HALLIE JACKSON</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-weissmann-20180216-story.html">Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann has a reputation for hard-changing tactics -- and sometimes going too far</a> -- <strong>LA Times' DAVID WILLMAN</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-midterm-voters-20180216-story.html">Will Trump voters turn out for an election with no Trump? The answer could determine control of Congress</a> -- <strong>LA Times' MARK Z. BARABAK</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/16/donald-trump-also-hooked-up-with-a-playboy-playmate-during-that-wild-lake-tahoe-weekend-ronan-farrow-reports/">Donald Trump also hooked up with a Playboy Playmate during that wild Lake Tahoe weekend, Ronan Farrow reports</a> -- <b>BANG's MARTHA ROSS</b></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/world/article/Students-celebrate-1st-child-born-in-an-12619102.php">Students celebrate 1st child born in an independent Kosovo</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>AP</strong>: "All the students in a tiny village in Kosovo have gathered to celebrate a very special day for Pavaresia Sopi &mdash; a 10th birthday with deep significance for her whole Balkan nation."</p>
<p>"Pavaresia, whose name means "independence" in Albanian, was the first baby born in an independent Kosovo, 15 minutes after independence was declared at an afternoon session in parliament on Feb. 17, 2008."</p>
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<p>"The 4th-grade students celebrated Friday in Sllovi, 17 kilometers (11 miles) south of the capital, Pristina. On the blue-yellow-and-white birthday cake &mdash; the colors of Kosovo's flag &mdash; they wrote: "Pavaresia 10 vjet! Happy Birthday!"</p>
</div><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>Senate sex suit2018-02-16T05:27:00Zurn:blog:wnzcoopu1y8pw9.15jdg41immwdknc2018-02-15T15:10:01Z<p><strong><a href="http://time.com/5159039/florida-school-shooting-parkland/">The Florida school shooting was the 18th school shooting of the year. It's only February.</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Time's JAMIE DUCHARME</strong>: "<a href="http://time.com/5158678/what-to-know-about-the-active-shooter-situation-at-florida-high-school/?xid=homepage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wednesday&rsquo;s school shooting</a>&nbsp;at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., was the 18th school shooting of 2018 &mdash; a year that&rsquo;s not even two months old."</p>
<p>"While many of these incidents &mdash; including the most recent before Wednesday&rsquo;s shooting, one on Feb. 8 at New York City&rsquo;s Metropolitan High School &mdash; did not result in any fatalities or injuries, schools nationwide have been&nbsp;<a href="http://time.com/5116457/kentucky-marshall-county-shooting-desensitization/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rocked by gun violence</a>&nbsp;in recent days. There have been school shootings in 13 states so far this year,&nbsp;<a href="https://everytownresearch.org/school-shootings/#5924)" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according to Everytown for Gun Safety</a>, a non-profit that advocates for gun control. Texas, California and Michigan have each seen at least two school shootings."</p>
<p>"On Jan. 23 in Kentucky,&nbsp;<a href="http://time.com/5114347/marshall-county-high-school-kentucky-shooting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a 15-year-old student killed two of his peers</a>&nbsp;and injured almost two dozen others. Just the day before, a&nbsp;<a href="http://time.com/5112440/italy-texas-high-school-shooting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15-year-old girl was wounded in a shooting in Texas</a>."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>School Shooting Pandemic</strong>: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/us/parkland-school-shooting.html">Florida school shooting death toll is at 17 and could rise</a> -- <strong>NYT's AUDRA D.S. BURCH/PATRICIA MAZZEI</strong>; <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/15/florida-shooting-suspect-charged-questions-nikolas-cruz">Nikolas Cruz charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder in Florida school shooting</a> -- <strong>The Guardian's OLIVER LAUGHLAND/RICHARD LUSCOMBE/JON HENLEY</strong>; <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/14/school-shooting-suspect-made-disturbing-social-media-posts/">Florida school shooting suspect made 'very, very disturbing' social media posts, sheriff says</a> -- <strong>AP</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/education/article/Florida-high-school-shooting-plunges-city-into-12615409.php">Florida teen charged with 17 murders legally bought AR-15</a><b>&nbsp;-- AP's TERRY SPENCER/KELLI KENNEDY</b>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ar-15-story.html">Mass shootings are getting deadlier. And the latest ones all have something new in common: The AR-15</a> -- <strong>LA Times' MATT PEARCE</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/the-latest-florida-school-shooting-suspect-booked-in-jail/">School superintendent chokes up during interview</a> -- <strong>AP</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/gun-sales-are-plummeting-and-trump-wants-to-help/">Gun sales are plummeting and Trump wants to help</a> -- <strong>The Nation's GEORGE ZORNICK</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article200201694.html">Report of gun-toting bicyclist prompts American River College lockdown</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's CATHY LOCKE</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Risk-of-disastrous-heat-floods-and-fire-12613757.php">Risk of disastrous heat, floods and fire skyrockets with warming, Stanford professor finds</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER</strong>: "The extreme weather that brought record floods and ruinous wildfires to the United States in the past year is just a taste of what&rsquo;s to come, new research out of Stanford University shows."</p>
<p>"Owing to global warming, increasingly brutal spells of heat and drought as well as rain and snow are up to five times as likely to occur over large stretches of the planet in coming decades, according to a study published Wednesday,"</p>
<p>"The work was led by Earth system scientist Noah Diffenbaugh, who is at the fore of a growing cadre of researchers working to pinpoint the largely amorphous effects of climate change."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to&nbsp;<strong>Energy &amp; Environment</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Santa-Rosa-mobile-home-park-won-t-be-rebuilt-12614534.php">Santa Rosa mobile home park won't be rebuilt after fires, but affordable housing coming</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>The Chronicle's LIZZIE JOHNSON</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/14/fire-scorches-vacant-greenhouses-on-site-of-historic-san-gabriel-nursery/">Fire scorches vacant greenhouses on site of historic San Gabriel nursery</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>SGV Tribune's BRIAN DAY</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/14/warning-issued-after-pesticide-poisoned-nopales-from-mexico-are-found-at-stater-bros-other-locations/">Warning issued after pesticide-poisoned nopales from Mexico are found at Stater Bros., other locations</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>SGV Tribune's SUZANNE HURT</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article200140634.html">February has been bone dry. Has drought returned to California?</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW/DALE KASLER</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-skelton-trump-infrastructure-california-20180215-story.html">If Republicans have their way, California highways stand to lose big under Trump's infrastructure plan</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' GEORGE SKELTON</strong>: "President Trump's infrastructure proposal isn't worth much. And what it is worth for California, the state's Republican delegation in Congress is trying to destroy."</p>
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<p data-page="1">"That's the irony. More precisely, it's cynical politics outweighing needed public works."</p>
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<p>"This is what I mean:"</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to&nbsp;<strong>Transportation</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-gas-tax-repairs-repeal-20180215-htmlstory.html">California's gas tax increase has fast-tracked road repair projects. But is that enough to prevent a repeal?</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>LA Times' PATRICK MCGREEVY</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article200072054.html">DMV clerk issued phony driver's licenses and let applicants skip tests, feds say</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>Sacramento Bee's SAM STANTON</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/why-you-should-and-shouldnt-buy-an-electric-car/">Why you should -- and shouldn't -- buy an electric car</a>&nbsp;--&nbsp;<strong>BANG's ETHAN BARON</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://calmatters.org/articles/single-payer-healthcare-california-advocates-playing-long-game/">Single-payer healthcare in California? Why advocates are playing the long game</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>From CALmatters' LAUREL ROSENHAL</strong>L: "By many measures the rambunctious campaign for a single-payer health care system in California appears to be floundering."</p>
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<p>"A bill that would replace the existing health care system with a new one run by a single payer&mdash;specifically, the state government&mdash;and paid for with taxpayer money remains parked in the Assembly, with no sign of moving ahead. An effort by activists to recall Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon for shelving the bill has gone dormant. And an initiative that would lay the financial groundwork for a future single-payer system has little funding, undercutting its chances to qualify for the ballot."</p>
<p>"But even if single payer is a lost cause in the short term, advocates are playing a long game. For now, it may well be less a realistic policy blueprint than an organizing tool."</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/SJ-State-prof-announces-lieutenant-governor-run-12615027.php">SJ State prof announces lieutenant governor run, takes swipe at Newsom</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI</strong>: "<span>A Republican economics professor at San Jose State&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.sjsu.edu/people/lydia.ortega/">University&nbsp;</a><span>announced her candidacy in California&rsquo;s increasingly crowded lieutenant governor&rsquo;s race Wednesday, pledging to make college affordable and &ldquo;restore dignity to the halls of our state Capitol."</span></p>
<p><span>"</span>Lydia Ortega, who has never held public office, was one of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/29/137-economists-support-gop-tax-reform-bill-in-open-letter-commentary.html">137 economists</a>&nbsp;who signed an open letter to Congress last year in support of Republican tax reform legislation, saying it would stimulate economic growth."</p>
<p>"In her<a href="https://youtu.be/Q2pS_h5gXlE">&nbsp;introductory video&nbsp;</a>released Wednesday, the 59-year-old Ortega touts her upbringing in a &ldquo;tough neighborhood in East L.A.&rdquo; and says she knows &ldquo;what women in the MeToo movement have gone through. This has to stop. We have to hold leaders accountable to oaths and vows they make."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>State Politics</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article200069104.html">Top Clinton aide to run for California governor</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article199974074.html">'It's time for a divorce': Calexit supporters relaunch California independence bid</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article200166454.html">Effort to recall Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs moves forward</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sacramento Bee's NOEL HARRIS</strong>: "Last month, Stockton residents began an effort to recall&nbsp;<a href="http://www.stocktongov.com/government/council/mayor.html" target="_blank" title="">Mayor Michael Tubbs</a>."</p>
<p>"Brenda Vasquez, who is leading the effort, on Tuesday&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208779940894188&set=gm.389450841527905&type=3&theater&ifg=1" target="_blank" title="">posted on Facebook</a>&nbsp;a letter she received from the Office of the City Clerk, saying &ldquo;WE DID IT, WITH TEARS OF JOY!"</p>
<p>"The letter from Stockton City Clerk Bret Hunter was posted by Vasquez on the public&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/212023355937322/about/" target="_blank" title="">Stockton Politics</a>&nbsp;group page, which has nearly 1,500 members."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-assemblywoman-cristina-garcia-accused-of-1518658063-htmlstory.html">Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia accused of improper workplace behavior by anonymous ex-staffers</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' MELANIE MASON</strong>: "A lawyer representing four anonymous former staffers of Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) filed a letter with the Assembly on Wednesday, alleging the legislator had created an inappropriate workplace environment."</p>
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<p>"The allegations, unveiled in an unusual news conference on the steps of the state Capitol, involve&nbsp;alcohol use in the office&nbsp;and raunchy conversations about sex."</p>
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<p>"The letter comes on the heels of accusations by two men that Garcia made improper advances on them. Garcia has denied wrongdoing and went on unpaid leave while the matter is investigated."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Me Too</strong>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article200150799.html">Women target seats held by California lawmakers accused of sexual harassment</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF</strong>;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-shaun-white-20180215-story.html">Turns out Shaun White, world's best snowboarder, can be a creep. A hero would cop to his own bad behavior</a> -- <strong>LA Times' ROBIN ABCARIAN</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Female-entrepreneur-29-accuses-VC-73-of-12614954.php">Female entrepreneur, 29, accuses VC, 73, of sexual assault on plane</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's KATHLEEN PENDER</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/The-Olympics-meets-its-MeToo-moment-12613903.php">The #MeToo movement meets the Olympics</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's ANN KILLION</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-backs-gop-immigration-plan-rejects-limited-approach-on-dreamers/2018/02/14/56f52176-118f-11e8-9570-29c9830535e5_story.html?utm_term=.2d3419146291">Bipartisan group reaches deal on immigration, fulfilling some Trump demands</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>WaPo's ED O'KEEFE/DAVID NAKAMURA/MIKE DEBONIS</strong>: "A bipartisan group of senators reached a deal on immigration Wednesday as President Trump attempted to preemptively undercut the proposal by delivering an ultimatum: Pass my plan or risk a veto."</p>
<p>"The self-dubbed &ldquo;Common Sense Caucus&rdquo; of senators late Wednesday circulated legislation that would fulfill Trump&rsquo;s calls to grant legal status to 1.8&nbsp;million young immigrants and would appropriate $25&nbsp;billion for southern border security construction projects over the next decade &mdash; not immediately, as Trump wants. The bill also would curb family-based immigration programs, but not to the extent Trump is seeking, and would not end a diversity visa lottery program that he wants eliminated."</p>
<p>"Word of an agreement came as formal debate on immigration policy is set to intensify Thursday. The new bipartisan plan is slated for a vote, as is the GOP proposal sought by Trump, another Republican bill that would punish &ldquo;sanctuary&rdquo; cities and a bipartisan idea that would significantly water down Trump&rsquo;s demands."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Immigration</strong>:&nbsp;<strong>OP-ED</strong>:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-a-test-for-mitch-mcconnell-lets-see-how-he-does/2018/02/14/37788654-11c0-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.1a8615a28092">This is a test for Mitch McConnell. Let's see how he does.</a>&nbsp;<strong>-- WaPo's EDITORIAL BOARD</strong>; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ice-raids-20180213-story.html">ICE launches new immigration sweep in LA area; at least 100 detained so far</a> -- <strong>LA Times' CINDY CARCAMO</strong>; <a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/14/ice-reportedly-arrests-more-than-100-in-uncooperative-la-area-as-part-of-operation-that-began-sunday/">ICE reportedly arrests 100+ in 'uncooperative' LA area as part of operation that began Sunday</a> -- <strong>Daily News' ELIZABETH CHOU</strong>; <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/15/paul-ryan-immigration-conservative-backlash-409685">Ryan struggles on Dreamers as GOP fractures</a> -- <strong>Politico's RACHAEL BADE/JOHN BRESNAHAN</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Berkeley-cuts-its-cannabis-tax-rate-in-half-to-12614132.php">Berkeley cuts its cannabis tax rate in half to attract, keep businesses</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Chronicle's KIMBERLY VEKLEROV</strong>: "In a boost to a fledgling industry, the Berkeley City Council slashed the city&rsquo;s recreational cannabis tax rate in half Tuesday to attract and keep businesses in town."</p>
<p>"The tax rate, now 5 percent, is among the lowest in the Bay Area and could put pressure on neighboring cities to cut theirs, too."</p>
<p>"<span>Critics decried the move as a relinquishing of vital funds after&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Customers-line-up-for-first-legal-purchase-of-12466242.php">just six weeks of legal adult-use sales</a><span>. They pointed out that no formal analysis had been done to show whether the possible benefits spurred by new business creation would offset the losses in city revenue."</span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <b>Cannabis</b>: <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article200176144.html">Pot growers are flooding Sacramento with applications. Some areas say enough is enough</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's RYAN LILLIS/BRAD BRANAN</strong>&nbsp;</p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-milo-ucla-mexico-20180214-story.html">Milo Yiannopoulos' UCLA talk on what he hates about Mexico canceled</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' TERESA WATANABE</strong>: "Milo Yiannopoulos, the right-wing rabble-rouser whose campus appearances have sparked widespread protests, is no longer headed to UCLA this month."</p>
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<p data-page="1">"Less than 24 hours after putting tickets for the event on sale, the Bruin Republicans voted Wednesday to cancel his Feb. 26 talk, "10 Things I Hate About Mexico," Yiannopoulos told The Times in a series of text messages."</p>
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<p>"The student group confirmed the decision in a Facebook post, saying they canceled the event because it "polarized the leadership of the organization," not because of any public backlash."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Education</strong>: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Stanford-Law-faculty-member-receives-envelope-12614608.php">Professor leading bid to recall Judge Persky receives threat, 'white powder'</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's JENNA LYONS</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Court-reinstates-SF-ban-on-evicting-teachers-12614996.php">Court reinstates SF ban on evicting teachers during school year</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/we-would-literally-not-survive-how-trumps-plans-for-the-social-safety-net-would-affect-americas-poorest/2018/02/14/11f34f92-10f6-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.ccb98595c3db">'We would literally not survive': How Trump's plans for the social safety net would affect America's poorest</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>WaPo's CAITLIN DEWEY/TRACY JAN</strong>: "Since the day in January 2010 when teenager Courtney Bias and her 1-week-old daughter were kicked out of her mother&rsquo;s house, the young family has slept wherever they can: under bridges. On strangers&rsquo; floors. In city parks."</p>
<p>"Today, 25-year-old Bias, her boyfriend and their three young children are renting part of a friend&rsquo;s apartment outside Baltimore. They scrape by on his wages from construction and landscaping jobs, relying on federal food stamps to help feed their children and Medicaid for doctor&rsquo;s visits. Bias has also been on a wait list for subsidized housing for the past seven years and was told 2018 would be the year she could finally move into her own apartment."</p>
<p>"But after hearing the Trump administration&rsquo;s plans to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-wants-to-overhaul-americas-safety-net-with-giant-cuts-to-housing-food-stamps-and-health-care/2018/02/12/a7cfd03e-102f-11e8-9570-29c9830535e5_story.html?utm_term=.6e95f93222d4" shape="rect">overhaul the social safety net</a>, Bias is afraid that she and her family could wind up on the streets, where they started. &ldquo;My kids and I were in a lot of sticky situations before,&rdquo; Bias said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t wait another seven years to get off that list."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lapd-shooting-20180214-story.html">Police Commission faults LAPD officer who shot and killed 70-year-old man holding metal pipe</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' KATE MATHER</strong>: "A veteran Los Angeles police officer violated department rules for using deadly force last year when he shot and killed a 70-year-old man&nbsp;<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-carls-jr-ois-20170304-story.html" target="_blank">holding a pipe</a>&nbsp;in downtown L.A., an oversight panel determined."</p>
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<p data-page="1">"Siding with Chief Charlie Beck, the Los Angeles Police Commission unanimously faulted Officer Charles Garcia for firing his gun and for some of the tactics he used before pulling the trigger."</p>
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<p>"Several bystanders filmed the March 4 shooting, which happened at a busy intersection &mdash; Olympic Boulevard and Broadway &mdash; in the middle of the afternoon.&nbsp;<a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/03/04/officer-involved-shooting-occurs-in-downtown-la/" target="_blank">Those videos</a>, which show Garcia fire twice at&nbsp;<a href="http://homicide.latimes.com/post/alejandro-valencia-mendez/" target="_blank">Alejandro Mendez</a>&nbsp;as he stood several feet away, quickly raised questions both inside and outside the LAPD."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Public Safety</strong>: <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Woman-pleads-not-guilty-to-throwing-dog-from-7th-12614676.php">Defendant pleads not guilty to throwing dog to its death in SF</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's ANNIE MA</strong>; <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Family-of-San-Francisco-man-killed-with-stolen-12613635.php">Family of SF man killed with stolen police gun files claim</a> -- <strong>The Chronicle's EVAN SERNOFFSKY/JENNA LYONS</strong>; <a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/14/west-covina-police-arrest-suspected-serial-bandit-linked-to-more-than-40-cell-phone-store-robberies-in-four-counties/">Man arrested in armed robberies of more than 40 cellphone stores across SoCal, police say</a> -- <strong>SGV Tribune's BRIAN DAY</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article200092669.html">Missing Canadian skier found in Sacramento says he rode in a big rig, deputies say</a> -- <strong>Sacramento Bee's NASHELLY CHAVEZ</strong>; <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/15/31-arrests-in-crackdown-on-violent-drug-running-street-gang/">Sweep targets Nuestra Familia gang directed from NorCal prison</a> -- <strong>AP</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2018/02/strike-decline-2017-bureau-labor-statistics">The Disappearing Strike</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Jacobin Mag's DOUG HENWOOD</strong>: "According to Bureau of Labor Statistics&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkstp.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">figures</a>&nbsp;released on Friday, last year saw the second-smallest number of major strikes in recorded history: seven. This is close to the record low set in 2009, five &mdash; in the depths of the Great Recession, when the unemployment rate was approaching 10 percent. Last year&rsquo;s average unemployment rate was less than half that, 4.3 percent."</p>
<p>"Here&rsquo;s the grim history of the decline of labor&rsquo;s most powerful weapon in two graphs:"</p>
<p>"<span>The number of days of &ldquo;idleness&rdquo; &mdash; a curiously moralizing word for an&nbsp;</span><a href="https://lbo-news.com/2018/02/09/the-disappearing-strike/">instrument of class struggle</a><span>&nbsp;&mdash; wasn&rsquo;t as close to a record low. There were four years in which this measure (the number of workers involved times the length of the strike) was lower &mdash; all recent years (2009, 2010, 2013, 2014)."</span></p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Economy &amp; Development</strong>: <a href="https://www.sgvtribune.com/2018/02/14/the-arroyo-seco-was-once-snubbed-for-money-for-local-restoration-projects-that-could-soon-be-fixed/">The Arroyo Seco was once snubbed for money for local restoration projects. That could soon be fixed.</a> -- <strong>SGV Tribune's STEVE SCAUZILLO</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2018/02/cartoonography">The governor of Pennsylvania rejects Republicans' new map</a>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>The Economist's S.M.</strong>: "THE best thing that can be said about a new Republican-drawn congressional map for Pennsylvania is that none of the districts resembles a cartoon character. But erasing the lines of a comically gerrymandered district dubbed &ldquo;Goofy kicking Donald Duck&rdquo; was not enough to satisfy an order from Pennsylvania&rsquo;s Supreme Court, said Tom Wolf, the state&rsquo;s Democratic governor, on February 13th."</p>
<p>"When the court ruled on January 22nd that the map in use since 2011 was an extreme partisan gerrymander that violates Pennsylvania&rsquo;s constitution, it gave legislators until February 9th to send Mr Wolf a fairer map. The redrawn districts, the court advised, should be &ldquo;composed of compact and contiguous territory&rdquo; and should not gratuitously divide cities and counties. Curiously, the initial order said nothing about fixing the map&rsquo;s skew toward Republican candidates, which has afforded their party a reliable 13-to-5 advantage in a state with more registered Democrats than Republicans."</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456417/federalist-party-america-launches-today-supports-term-limits">With fealty to frailty, the Federalist Party of America launches</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>National Review's WILLIAM F.B. O'REILLY</strong>: "<span>new political party is rolling out in America. It&rsquo;s tiny, unfunded, understaffed, and it&rsquo;s not really a party at all, at least not yet. Sounds promising &mdash; right?"</span></p>
<p>"<span>There&rsquo;s more. Its name is stodgy, akin to blowing dust from an old tome in a Philadelphia attic: the Federalist Party of America. What&rsquo;s next? Powdered wigs?"</span></p>
<p><span>"And if the party ever draws real breath, everyone who&rsquo;s anyone in Washington will try to strangle it in its crib. How can it miss?"</span></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/14/trump-russia-investigation-evidence-collusion-obstruction-adam-schiff">Adam Schiff says House Russia investigation has 'abundance' of evidence against Trump</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Guardian's JULIAN BORGER</strong>: "Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said Wednesday that the panel had seen an &ldquo;abundance&rdquo; of evidence of collusion with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/russia" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" data-component="auto-linked-tag" >Russia</a>&nbsp;and obstruction by Donald Trump&rsquo;s campaign and administration that is not yet public."</p>
<p>"Speaking to reporters in Washington, Schiff said a lot of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/dec/08/donald-trump-russia-investigation-key-questions-latest-news-collusion-timeline" data-link-name="in body link" >information</a>&nbsp;was already in the public domain that pointed to extensive contacts between the Trump campaign team and the Kremlin, and later efforts by the Trump entourage to cover up those contacts. But Schiff said there was much more to come out."</p>
<p>"He said: &ldquo;There is certainly an abundance of non-public information that we&rsquo;ve gathered in the investigation. And I think some of that non-public evidence is evidence on the issue of collusion and some &hellip; on the issue of obstruction.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>POTUS45/KremlinGate</strong>: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-is-frustrated-with-the-white-house-counsel-who-walks-a-fine-line-over-his-bosss-demands/2018/02/14/eca8b59e-101c-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.3da060d8b55d">White House counsel walks a fine line in serving Trump's demands</a> -- <strong>WaPo's JOSH DAWSEY?ROSALIND S. HELDERMAN/MATT ZAPOTOSKY</strong>; <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/14/democrat-russia-memo-demands-407926">Schiff complains FBI, Justice Department making too many demands on Russia memo</a> -- <strong>Politico's KYLE CHENEY</strong>; <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/15/mitt-romney-utah-senate-hatch-410352">Why Romney plans to lay off Trump</a> -- <strong>Politico's ALEX ISENSTADT</strong>; <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/14/john-kelly-scandals-redemption-410801">Kelly's uphill battle for redemption</a> -- <strong>Politico's JOHN F. HARRIS/ELIANA JOHNSON</strong>; <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article200133249.html">Progressive poll shows support for Trump impeachment</a> -- <strong>McClatchy DC's ALEX ROARTY</strong>; <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/14/trump-can-fire-mueller-but-not-a-grand-jury-216975">Trump can fire Mueller, but not a grand jury</a> -- <b>Politico's DAVID YASSKY/BENNETT L. GERSHMAN</b>; <a href="http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/373979-cnn-launches-new-ad-trolling-trump-on-mueller">CNN launches new ad trolling Trump on Mueller</a> -- <strong>The Hill's JOE CONCHA</strong>; <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/14/trump-lawyers-resist-robert-mueller-interview-cite/">Trump legal team builds case against Mueller interview, cites Clinton precedent</a> -- <b>Washington Time's ROWAN SCARBOROUGH</b>; <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/373959-bharara-trolls-wh-every-member-of-muellers-team-has-a-permanent">Bharara trolls WH: Every member of Mueller's team has a permanent security clearance</a> -- <strong>The Hill's BRANDON CARTER</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-north-south-korea-dmz-20180215-htmlstory.html">Olympic celebrations of Korean unity belie the state of anxiety on the DMZ, a short drive north</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>LA Times' MATT STILES</strong>: "The aging, two-story blue structure stands just across the eerie border separating North and South Korea, inside the broader buffer area known as the demilitarized zone."</p>
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<p>"The building has a military telephone, set up so that international troops under the United States&rsquo; command can relay messages to their North Korean adversaries in the hope of avoiding any unintended conflict."</p>
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<p>"They haven&rsquo;t answered since 2013,&rdquo; said Cmdr. Robert Watt, a scruffy Canadian military officer who helps U.S.-led forces keep the peace here. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve resorted to calling out, essentially, with a bullhorn."</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE</strong>&nbsp;related to <strong>Misc</strong>: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-john-oliver-last-week-20180215-story.html">John Oliver returns to 'Last Week Tonight,' talks Trump, Alec Baldwin and why he's in awe of Jimmy Kimmel</a> -- <strong>LA Times' MEREDITH BLAKE</strong></p>
</div><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>Another day, another school shooting2018-02-15T05:19:00Z